I was asked this very question tonight. What a great introspective query! The friend who had asked also has taught art in the past, her answer 5th grade. My answer, I love aspects of them all. I thought for a moment further and realized maybe 2nd grade. I love all the colors they use. There were some pretty advanced kindergarteners too and the growth I saw in 6 months was amazing. I also enjoyed the ladies I taught weaving to. They were of retirement age much like the students I taught weaving to for 14 years at the weaving center I taught at in Milwaukee. I had a really challenging 6th grader and it wasn't teaching art to him I like the most it was talking to him just to get him comfortable enough to be, if I accomplished a sense of connectedness with him to his surroundings, that knocked any "perfect art project" out of the ball park.. It not about the art, or the projects, it's about the people (art is a very important second). I love all age groups and have been told I have the patience of a saint, that's debatable... I have a passion for art, it's history, it's techniques and I love sharing it with kids and adults alike.
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In an Art Education class we discussed the "art piece" of an "artist" titled Comedian. The piece, a duct taped banana to a wall, sold in 2019 for $120,000. For many, myself included, found this disturbing. My personal definition of art requires something using thought and skill, but this is also a debate I continue with myself. In a recent art history course the definition of art, and what defines it separate from nature, is that it must be manipulated or manufactured. I love DADA. I love the movement for its nonsensical nature and conceptual thought. I create assemblages out of found objects as well and I embrace the tongue and cheek commentary my mind twists into objects and thoughts into. Has this artist found a magical equation to sell a duct taped banana to a wall for the cost of a small house in where I live? Am I jealous? Is it art? Part of me was having a tantrum wondering why I would teach this to students. What could they possibly gain form spending time on this would soon to be rotten garbage? I came home from class and in my mailbox on the cover of the NAEA Art Education Journal was the duct taped banana. Obviously there was a reason people were paying attention, however I set the magazine aside on my desk. In the last week of March 2020 we had already begun an augmented existence. With an order to stay "safer at home" because a virus was ripping through highly populated areas, fear was the basis of some major hoarding behaviors and paper supply shortages.
So one day, in my abandoned classroom the concept came to me. The absurd nature of a rotting banana and the value of a roll of toilet paper was equally insane. This imbalance in our culture our society is frightening. The fear and anger our guiding people in unhealthy ways. People are not practicing self control not taking a pause, and acting irrationally, like hoarding toilet paper.. It's kind of funny, not funny ha ha, but strange. I put in a search for comedian and the antonyms that appeared were "keep" and humorless. Keep seem extremely fitting because lately I have been meditating on the word "Kept" for a body of work I am creating for an up coming exhibit. As far as the banana and educating students about it I can't say I am driven to spend much time upon it. I may approach my students with the "piece" I made and introduce it as follows- "Mrs. Buss had a little fun (no toilet paper was wasted in the making of this "art"piece) back in March of 2020 when there were toilet paper shortages in the stores. In 2019 the work "Comedian" (duct taped banana) sold for $120,000. With the shortage of T.P. how much would you pay? Is this art? What defines art? Is art an idea? What should Mrs. Buss title her work?" |
AuthorI have a passion for the visual arts and love sharing it with others. I have enjoyed teaching all ages and love to incorporate art history and traditional disciplines as well as innovative ideas. Art is vital to who I am as a creator and educator. Archives
August 2023
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